Tuesday, October 08, 2019

Idea's Mirror: poem 1 of my new Michael Drayton-Brexit transposition (temporary post)

I have run out of the sonnets of Michael Drayton in his 1619 Idea which I have been using to write the sonnet sequence Bad Idea, the latest part of The English Strain. I write about it extensively (with lots of explanation, the odd photo, and links) in the hub post HERE:


Despite the various schemes outlined there, I plan to continue this Brexit work with Idea’s Mirror, using extra Drayton sonnets jettisoned on his way to the definitive 1619 edition.


Idea’s Mirror

                        Amidst those shades wherein the Muses sit,
                                    Thus to Idea, my Idea sings…
                                                                                    Michael Drayton

I write abut the end of the sequence (poem 14) here. The last three were the first to be published. Read them here.


Access eight online poems from Bad Idea from this post:


I have selected these poems so that they move backwards through the various editions of Drayton’s poems. The originals are rare so I have posted them here .

Update 2021: I’m delighted to announce that Bad Idea is available NOW from Alec Newman’s excellent press Knives Forks and Spoons, with a cover design by Patricia Farrell. You may get it HERE:  https://www.knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk/product-page/bad-idea-by-robert-sheppard-102-pages 


Book One of ‘The English Strain’ project, The English Strain, is available from Shearsman Books here:

https://www.shearsman.com/store/Sheppard-Robert-c28271934?offset=6


The poems are found in MINOR POEMS OF MICHAEL DRAYTON

 

CHOSEN AND EDITED BY CYRIL BRETT OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1907

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17873/17873-h/17873-h.htm#Page_1


You may read about the whole ‘English Strain’ project in a post that has links to some other accounts, and earlier parts, of this work: hereThat was 100 poems long. 
The most recent instalment of it to appear is Hap: Understudies of Thomas Wyatt’s Petrarch is available from Knives Forks and Spoons here:

https://www.knivesforksandspoonspress.co.uk/product-page/hap-understudies-of-thomas-wyatt-s-petrarch-by-robert-sheppard-26-pages


Access my website here
Here is a link that links to all the links to the good things on this blog: https://robertsheppard.blogspot.com/2020/02/fifteen-years-of-blogging-hubpost-to.html